Posts from the ‘OTHER AREAS’ Category

DETROIT (WWJ) – A lengthy legal fight is finally over for a Detroit mom who held police on a 12-hour standoff over her right to refuse her daughter’s medication. A judge on Wednesday dropped criminal charges against Maryanne Godboldo on the grounds that she’s too ill for a legal fight. Police claimed Godboldo fired a warning…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Prison officials revealed new rules Friday that they say will make California the first state to recognize that inmates can quit prison gangs and put that lifestyle behind them, allowing them to escape the tough restrictions that gang members are subject to.

However, gang associates would have to steer clear of gang activities for about a decade to qualify, while gang leaders would have to behave for a minimum of 14 years.

The draft regulations made public Friday are the latest changes to rules that keep some gang members locked in special isolation units for years and have led to widespread inmate hunger strikes. A spokesman for a coalition of reform groups that backed the hunger strikers called the changes “woefully inadequate.”

Prison officials consider more than 2,800 of California’s nearly 134,000 inmates to be gang members or associates, and say they direct much of the…

DETROIT (WWJ) – A 23-year-old man has been arraigned on torture and attempted rape charges following an attack on a Detroit woman who he allegedly burned with a blow torch.

Roderick Neely was arraigned Saturday and ordered held without bond pending his next court date. Neely also is charged with unlawful imprisonment, assault with intent to maim, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, felon in possession and felony firearm.

The charges stem from a incident that happened around 2 a.m. Wednesday in a blighted neighborhood near Plymouth and Meyers on the city’s west side. The 43-year-old victim told police she was leaving a gas station when a man came up behind her, put a gun to her head and forced her into a car. The woman said her attacker drove for a short time before parking the car. He then allegedly ripped off her clothing and began burning her with a…

(CNN) — A diet of bread and water is the punishment for dozens of Arizona inmates who allegedly defaced American flags placed in their jail cells.

The 38 male inmates are part of the Maricopa County jail system, which is under the control of controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio.

For their alleged unpatriotic acts, the sheriff said Thursday, they’ll survive on bread and water for seven days.

“These inmates have destroyed the American flag that was placed in their cells,” Arpaio said. “Tearing them, writing on them, stepping on them, throwing them in the toilet, trash or wherever they feel. It’s a disgrace … this is government property that they are destroying, and we will take action against those who act this way.”

The flags are part of a push for patriotism in county jail cells that includes listening to the “Star-Spangled Banner” every morning and “God Bless America” every night…